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By Yousef Mabrouk
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – Coming off a huge bounce-back win against Baylor following a two-game skid, the Arizona Wildcats aim to end the season on a high note. With March Madness around the corner, Arizona is looking to prove it can compete with the nation’s best teams.
Last Saturday’s showing fell short of that goal in a loss to No. 5 Houston, but the Wildcats returned to the win column two days later on the road against Baylor. Now, with an 18-8 record overall and 12-3 in Big 12 competition, Arizona returns home Saturday to host BYU.
Stellar forward play from Tobe Awaka alongside big Henri Veesaar made the difference in setting the tone early against Baylor. Awaka had a double-double finishing with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Veesaar added 13 points, five rebounds and four assists.
The duo hopes to bring that momentum to McKale Memorial Center against the Cougars (18-8 overall, 9-6 in the Big 12).
“I think Tobe did an amazing job sealing and he’s just a big presence down there,” Veesaar said. “It was easy to find him and in offensive rebounds we just all got to crash because we knew we had a height advantage down there.”
The Wildcats earned the third seed in the East Region in the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee’s top 16 teams reveal Saturday. After Monday’s 74-67 win against Baylor, the Wildcats have five games left to strengthen their case for the selection committee, including two against ranked opponents (No. 8 Iowa State and No. 23 Kansas). Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd knows his team’s margin for error is small after losing two of its last three.
“I thought our approach coming into this game would be critical to this game, obviously coming off a two-game skid against good teams,” Lloyd said after the win at Baylor. “One on the road, one at home. We felt like we had opportunities to win both games and you just don’t want a third one to slip through.”
Lloyd’s next challenge comes against a hungry and unranked BYU team, which crushed Kansas Tuesday, 91-57.
BYU’s Richie Sanders had a dominant performance against the Jayhawks with 22 points on 9-for-13 shooting from the field, leaving Kansas with few answers to the tempo.
“It starts with our pace,” Sanders said after the win against Kansas. “Transition, again I said I’ve said it – that’s what we do best and when we are playing on attack half court or transition. We call it point five. You have point five seconds to make a read whether it’s drive, shoot it or pass it. I feel like when we do that, it creates so many open looks for each other.
The Wildcats look to improve their 11-2 home record and stay on the heels of Houston in the Big 12, where they are separated by two games for the conference’s top spot.
“We lost a tough game to a (Kansas State) team that’s playing really well at home,” Lloyd said. “Obviously Houston has a great thing going. But we got to move on to the next one. We are thankful we have a couple days off this week. I can’t wait to play BYU Saturday at home.”
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